Cave Diver wanna be...need some help

[boydski]

Man, you have the BEST vacations!

Thanks! I'm really hooked and am going back down to Mexico for more Caves next month. My boss thinks I'm Loco..

 

[octgal]

wow boydski, your website and pictures are amazing

 

[GDI]

Well I can see that you have been given some good advise from several people here on the board. As a cave instructor and having worked with a couple of the divers here on this thread I can tell you that you will want to come as prepared as you can. You will find that after the training you will become very excited about what you have accomplished and with good cause. SO much in fact that you may exagerate on what occurred during some of the training or get the training mixed up between what happens in the actual cave and what happens before you enter the cavern zone to start your training. Each Cave instructor does things a bit different. Given the size of the cave diving community the instructors are able to talk and to compare techniques and improve their teachings, through this the teaching techniques are fairly consistant from one instructor to another. None the less you should select your instructor wisely Right from the start you will see that cave divers take care of their own. The dangers of cave diving are there, it is not ment for every diver out there to become a cave diver. The instructor will do everything they can to make you a safe cave diver, That means they will show you things that will get you OUT OF THE CAVE, anyone can enter a cave and that is the danger. If you do not get through your training the first time at least it will make you a better diver for OW diving. The equipment is plenty expensive but if you want to do this form of diving then you better be willing to get the correct stuff right from the start. Take your time here and select good equipment. work with your instructor and other cave divers. There are several cave and tech divers in your area that can help you in this regard. PM me and I will provide you some names. The classes are not a certification course they are training courses. The training usually starts with some academic information and then hours of dryland line drills. I can say that you better learn to love the reel. Following dryland drills there will be a OW assessment and if all is good a cavern tour. During this OW assessment classes have ended because the student did not perform to standard. The instructors look for many things and are not asking for perfection, your attitude alone can be the failure point of a course. I have my students work the reel before entering into the cavern to do additional drills. Each dive you make will build on the previous and you will repeat each skill everytime you enter the water with the expectations becoming higher as you progress. You will be task loaded both in the OW and in the overhead. You will be asked about cave awareness things such as line position and arrows and rock/passage formations. If you have a weak area that the instructor detects then be prepared to work it, you can not afford to have a problem that will put you at risk and detract you from getting out of the cave passages. Subject to your instructor and your abilities you may need to be prepared for long hours in the water. Each of the various four levels of cavern to cave instruction has only as a minimum 4 dives each. It is not uncommon that you will take up to 6-8 dives just to get through the cavern class. Aside from the equipment and training costs you will also have travel costs, meals, gas/air top ups. It can get to be a bit expensive. In the end whether you complete the training or not you will find that it is worth it. Good luck

 

[Mark Vlahos]

Edit: Post removed by me.

Mark Vlahos

 

[octgal]

Thank you for your post it was very helpful

 

[ajames54]

Hey everyone,
I'm very interested in becoming a cave diver after i finish my rescue diver cert. Was wondering if any of you had any advise for someone who has yet to expierence this awesome side of diving. Is it really as dangerous as people tell me it is?? And where on earth do you guys find your dive buddies, as i don't know anyone here in ontario canada that's a cave diver (although i haven't look too hard yet)

Any thought and advise are welcome!

Well my wife and I are in Toronto and while not yet certed (we are behind you) we both plan to cave dive .. and have two other friends who have made positive noises about the idea ..

Where are you doing (going to do) your classes? we are having a bit of a hard time fiinding a convienient place ..

Apparently there is a pretty impressive Cave system at Tobermory.

 

[JimC]

The caves at Toby are very advanced, nomount sumps. Something very few people are ever ready for.

Get a bunch of dives in, 100 or more would be good. Master your boyancy and trim. Then go take some training.

Until then, enjoy where you are and don't do anything dumb.

 

[Tamas]

The caves at Toby are very advanced, nomount sumps.

What exactly does that mean? Are they divable or just to climbable?

 

[roakey]

A sump is where dry passage descends into the water table and you have to swim to the "other side" to get to dry passage again (if there is dry passage on the "other side").

"Advanced nomount" means they're tight, convoluted and very, very silty.

Not for training.

Roak

 

[JimC]

They are water filled no mount sumps.

What that means to joe diver, in Ontario:
- 40F or lower water temp
- No tanks attached to your body
- Pushing a tank into a hole in fount of you and squeezing though after it. Some places so tight you must exhale to pass
- No buddy. To bring one would be suicide
- Almost no vis most of the time
- No flow
- HUGE silt and percolation, when it matters.

In short, the scariest place imaginable.

This is true of basically every cave in Ontario that I am aware of. Which is to bad, because we have cave systems in the Ottawa river, 15 minutes from my house.

There are 2 places that I hear are divable in Quebec. Back Mine and 100 Mile Lake. That is about all I know about them too. People are very tight lipped and I don't speak french.